The City Health Office, in line with the Diabetes Awareness Week, called on Dabawenyos to avail of free consultations at the barangay health stations and health district offices for diabetes-related cases.
CHO Communicable Diseases Medical Coordinator told Dr. Shri Angeleo L. Reyes told Madayaw Davao on Wednesday that they conduct free screening for those who are potentially at risk of diabetes and also provide monthly screening and follow up checkups for those who are diagnosed with the disease.
“Everyday man ang ang among checkup diri sa among district ug uban district. If ever ma-diagnose ta og diabetes i-enrol sila sa monthly nga check up with benefits such as screening tests for random blood sugar and ma provide sila’g libre tambal. Bisan dili diabetic pwede sila mag adto walk in if ever tan-aw nila nga high risk sila mag develop og diabetes (We conduct daily check-ups in our district and in other districts. If ever someone is diagnosed with diabetes, we will enrol them in our monthly check-up with benefits such as screening and test, like random blood sugar, and we also provide medicines. Even those who are not diabetic, they can go to our centers as walk-in patients if ever they assess themselves at high risk of developing diabetes),” he said.
Reyes said that there are two types of diabetes. Type-1 Diabetes refers to in-born cases while Type 2 Diabetes is caused by lifestyle, obesity, and poor diet.
“Parehas sila delikado kung ma complicate, kay vital organs ang igo tanan, so dili na nato hulaton nga ma complicate, prevention gyud (Both are dangerous as it can cause complications, because it targets vital organs, so we should not wait, we must prevent it),” he said.
Reyes said that the common symptoms of Type 2 Diabetes are thirst and the feeling of the need to urinate even if one has just had water. Another is the feeling of hunger even when one just ate.
He also pointed out that there are times when there are no symptoms indicating diabetes so undergoing screening and test is advised to check whether one has the disease or not.
Reyes said that after tests, those found to be borderline diabetic are advised to control their sugar intake, lifestyle change and those who are overweight are advised to lose weight. Those who are having sleeping problems are advised to improve their sleep quality.
He assured that while diabetes is not curable, its deadly complications can be prevented through early interventions and medications.
“Wala man gyud cure ang diabetes we have medication nga mas ma-control ang early complication. Libre ang atong consultation and maka provide pud ta og available nga tambal kung unsa among pwede mahatag (There is no cure for diabetes but we have medications that could control its early complications. The consultations are free and we can also provide available medicines),” Reyes said. CIO
